Slippery Fish

I apologize for taking so long to post these. The last couple weeks at Nerka were internet free, which was nice in a way. They were also warm and relatively sunny and were so splendid - it was very hard to leave. But I am home now and getting my classroom ready for students again. I am excited for school to start on Tuesday and looking forward to the new school year. But I wanted to be sure to post some of the pictures from the great adventures of the last few weeks.

• The above video clip is from Pick Creek. Everyone is working together in the wind and rain to put the nets out and gather in fish so they can be measured and all that good stuff (like was done before (just more of them and on video). This was while Grant Sonnex was here so you'll see him with his recording equipment. Just thought you'd enjoy a little of the "experience".
• Daniel collected core samples from the bottom of the lake - the one in the picture represents about 1,000 years of lake (and salmon) history. It was very interesting to observe a little of how they process it!
• Also at Pick Creek, I got to help catch fish for a project Matt Baker was working on. At first we tried chasing the fish up into the big nets, but found it was much easier for one person to chase the fish into one hand-held net. I have become a pro at fish chasing and wrangling! (Note the bear spray I'm wearing on my belt. If you ask me, I'll tell you a funny bear spray story.) (Sorry Tom. It must be told.)
• The other two pictures are the a couple of views while climbing Church Mountain. One is a view of the Hawaiian Mountains. The other is a view of Clover Meadow (which is really all muskeg) (and which I think we should rename Moose Meadow - since it was full of moose all summer).
• It was so wonderful the last week or so to have new faces in camp - including Sam (a vacationer who had worked here the last couple summers - brought a fiddle and banjo w/ him), Anna Coogan (she's a singer! Google her!), Matt Baker (great bass voice - I'll bet he starts singing w/ Anna soon), Tom (from Ireland and an incredible guitarist) and Anne, with her beautiful singing voice, came back up from Aleknagik. Her mom and dad came also. What a joy to sit on the beach or the path outside the bunkhouse and allow oneself to be completely immersed in beautiful music! I think every non-working moment there was at least one person strumming, fiddling, singing. . . . . . . oh heaven! Laura, Daniel and Casey were no musical slouches either! The first time I heard the violin singing through camp I almost cried. I don't know why. It was so beautiful! Music and the mountains and water just belong together. They compliment each other so well.
• Thank you to everyone who made this possible for me! Thank you for your encouragement and advice and the little (and big) things in the background. I'm so very, very grateful. It has been an incredible and unforgettable summer and I have learned so much. I hope I am able to give as much back. Take care and I look forward to seeing you all (if I haven't seen you yet since arriving home.)

BBC

Nerka Station had the honor of hosting a radio show producer/announcer (forgive me Grant and all my cousins in the radio business - I don't know the right titles :p) by the name of Grant Sonnex. Grant is from England and hosts a show for BBC radio about migratory animals. He did a three segment piece following the Sockeye Salmon migration from Bristol Bay to the end (where we are). He was such a pleasure to have in camp and it was awesome to get to see a little of what goes into shows like his. Anyway - I'm posting a link to it for anyone that is interested. The third segment is the one about Nerka. Enjoy! (Listen for the loons! They are so beautiful!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/worldonthemove/reports/salmon-spawning-in-alaska/

Ursa Major?

So today we saw a bear walking along the shore. We followed her along in the boat and were able to watch her go for a swim ,catch a fish and chase the gulls around. It was quite incredible. The other picture is from the afore mentioned fish measuring field trip. (Daniel and Casey waiting for some fish to get sleepy). More later as I have dishes waiting to get washed.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Well, despite the sunshine in these pictures, it has been pouring down rain for about two solid weeks, with the exception of Sunday which was blessedly warm. There have been about five, maybe six, sunny days since I arrived here and I feel like I've been blessed with a second winter this year. So, on the weather side of things, I will be happy to get back to California, dry out and warm up a bit. It really is still quite beautiful, though. There is nothing wrong with watching rain drip off the ferns and spruce. The loons call out all day and all night and the wind is ferocious and wild. The waves beat so strong on the shore that they whip up a thick foam - which is fun to paint on the sides of the boats and make beards with. I really do love it. And Luna and I have fun all the same. Sometimes we go out, but it really is quite chilly so mostly we stay in and play and tell stories and sing and dance and bake. I got to go out in the field a couple of days ago. It was quite an adventure. I helped Daniel and Casey put nets out and pull in about 200 fish. They needed to measure them and record how much scarring they had from gill nets. The first group of salmon we didn't quite get enough so we had to put the nets out again. After pulling them into the nets, they have to be untangled from the nets and thrown into a little cage thing (I'll post the pictures soon). This was fun! I got bit a few times. Salmon have sharp teeth. I also fell in the water a few times (tripped on the net) - making the waders somewhat ineffectual. (Keep in mind - this is in the pouring down rain, standing in water that is about 7 degrees celcius) I was the data recorder. It took several hours to get all the fish done. By the time we were finished I was so cold my hands wouldn't even grip the pencil and I couldn't zip up my life vest for the boat ride back. Thank goodness for that special science paper that you can write in in the rain. It stood up well when I dropped it in the lake twice. Oh well. A bowl of chili and a cup of hot tang (back at camp) and I was good as new again. Despite the cold, I really had a great time wrangling fish. I'm not sure Daniel and Casey were too thrilled to have a hypothermic newbie in the field with them. But I had fun. And they were really nice about it all.

As far as the pics go: one is of a leisurely evening in camp (pete w/ a butterfly net, daniel peeling potatoes w/ luna playing nearby, andrew sitting); my bed in the bunkhouse (somebody asked where I sleep); and Luna making fairy soup.

I've got to turn the generator off, so that's all for now. I hope you're all doing well. See you in a couple weeks!

Random Stuff

So here are a couple of pics I've been meaning to get up: Luna and I canoeing and a picture of a Lund (boat). We have several Lunds in camp and it is the main boat we use to go "out in the field" to the different sites. I'm learning to drive it. *evil grin* You may notice this particular lund does not have a motor on it yet and is backward in the water. I took a picture of it my first day in Alaska. Camp wasn't quite running yet and they were still getting motors on boats after having them stored in the shed all winter. Details. You asked about the boats we use - there you go.

The last couple of days have been blessedly warm and sunny! We swapped out a few people with Aleknagik a couple of days ago: lost Juliette and Gordon but gained back Pete and his friend, Andrew, and also the camp cook, Marlene, who is here for a few days of vacation. We had a nice 4th of July - grilled Salmon on the beach and got rained on a bit, but is was pleasant. Today I had the pleasure of trying a kayak for the first time. I still think I prefer a canoe, but it was fun. Pete and Andrew are watching a mama moose and her two babies graze across the bay right now. Amazing wildlife here. I've been collecting porcupine quills to bring back with me and am hoping to get a good picture of a porcupine. I also have some excellent moose fur, salmon jaws, and a wide assortment of flowers, plants and eagle feathers. I mean seagull feathers! And excellent rocks! Oh the rocks! Science teachers - put your orders in now! I have to say - there is a severe lack of bugs, though. At least the neat kind. There are PLENTY of the biting kind. No reptiles either. Sad. Only one species of frog. (And I found one!) Today Luna and I made fairy bracelets (backwards packing tape with flowers on it - very beautiful!) and I think I like them better than the flower press. The colors are nice and you can see both sides of the leaves and flowers. Hmmmm. . . . I'm just babbling now. I'll post the pics and go to bed. I hope you're all doing well! Luvs yas!

Something You Don't See Everyday - Even Here!

Luna and I saw this as we walked out the door after lunch today. We thought we'd share. Enjoy!

New adventures every day!

I'm o.k.

So is everybody else
Even the moose
Both of them

If you want the short story – skip to the end.
Long version starts here:

So today we went up to Clover Meadow (the muskeg swampy place behind camp). Laura, Juliette, Luna and I had gone to check bird nests (with new chicks) because Luna really wanted to go out in the field with her mom – which is excellent for me! As we were coming into the meadow we saw a moose munching on grass. We tried calling to it to scare it off but it was not interested in moving. But it also did not seem interested in us at all - it was just munching on grass (I did take a picture with my cell phone, but it's not great – the fuzzy smudge in the middle is the moose). So we decided to proceed with checking boxes and to just be careful. We went to the first box and found six chickies. Luna sat down and got set up with a snack (she set a brutal pace on the trail and was pretty hungry once we got there). Laura and Juliette were weighing and measuring the chickies. My job was to watch the moose. (It was across the meadow from where we were - about 150 ft., away.) Well, suddenly the moose headed into the trees (away from us) and a lot of birds started crying alarm (I've a much keener awareness of birds calls since being here). So I let Laura know the moose had moved and started scanning the area with binoculars to see what was wrong. After scanning the whole meadow and seeing nothing, I turn and look over my left shoulder and. . . .

There was a big bull moose about 90 ft from us.

And I'm seeing this through the binoculars!

I believe my exact words were, "Holy CRAP!"

Well, to make a long story a little longer, we slowly dropped everything (kept the baby chickies with us), and moved as a tight group into a thick stand of big trees.
Laura was carrying Luna and Juliette was carrying the chickies and I was carrying. . . .
the seal bombs! These are handy little buggers we carry everywhere (along with a huge can of bear spray) – they are about the size of a large tube of mascara with a long green fuse and they make a loud bang with theoretically scares the moose silly and make them run wildly in the opposite direction from where your standing. Theoretically.

I lit one and stepped out a way and threw it

Bullwinkle winked at us and smiled.

We waited a few minutes and called a few "Hey Moose!" but he wasn't very scared

So I lit another seal bomb and threw that. The moose responded by eating grass. He was obviously terrified.

So we decided to leave.

Juliette and I went back to our stuff and threw everything into the packs as fast as we could, while keeping one eye on the moose and one foot ready to jump back into the trees if it decided to charge us.

Luna did great through all this. She said a couple times, "I'm kind of scared" but other than that just watched and listened with huge eyes. I told her we were having a great adventure.

We high tailed it out of there

Not taking the trail so we could stay in the trees
I slipped and slid down a muddy slope (yes, I was wearing my brace - but not my waders)
So my freshly clean clothes are now COVERED in black muck
But we are all safe and laughing at the adventure and excitement of it all.

Short version of the story - we saw two moose, threw bombs at them and ran away
The end

Sunny Day! Hooray!

Pics: Top to bottom, L to R -

Central Nerka with Luna and the Rainbow Mountain Range in the background

Painting the fairy fort with Luna

Pete, Casey and Luna sampling water at Central Nerka.

Hello! It's been a great and fun day here. Woke up to a shining sun! Pete, Casey, Daniel, Luna and I got to go out to Central Nerka and Little Togiak Lake to do some water sampling. It was beautiful. Then we came back and had lunch and I headed out with Pete and Casey to collect river rocks and flag some plants for Pete's project. It was a gorgeous day for it all. Things are now winding down for the day - Pete and Allie are filtering the water samples from earlier today. Casey is making pizza for dinner. Luna and Laura are talking sweetly and brushing hair. I think Daniel might be working on the chimney for the wood stove in the new cabin. Woo-hoo! Anyway - all's well here and I hope you are doing well, also!

Pictures

O.k. Here are a few pictures:





Top to bottom, left to right:


Getting rescued by Daniel and Luna while on the way back from Pick Creek.

A view of camp from the boat. (Not the best pics, sorry). Shows: Bunk house (where I sleep), log cabin (storage), main cabin (kitchen, shower, pantry).

Luna checking out a char as it becomes "very sleepy"

Cleaning a pike on the bank of the Little Togiak.

A view from the Little Togiak, looking across Cabin Bay towards the Rainbow Mountains. There are mountains like this ALL THE WAY AROUND THE LAKE! It is absolutely incredible!


Pete and Laura checking nest boxes at Clover.

Allie and Pete hiking up the creek on the way to Hidden Lake.

Anne and Luna playing "Funny Face" with the lichen.

Heading out through Fly Over. The whole gang.

Pete and Allie measuring a char. (Before puking it)

At Long Last!

I'm so sorry to take so long to get this up! Here's a little bit from the last couple weeks! I'll post some pic's next, if this works!

Thursday, June 5, 2008 5:40 p.m. Lake Nerka, Alaska

Well – it is suspected that a moose has bumped the satellite, effectively killing our internet connection for now, so I don’t know how long it will be before I am actually able to post this, but I wanted to fill you in on a little of the happenings here at Lake Nerka. There is so much I could share. Let me summarize with a list for those of you who are skimmers. So far in my few day I have:

Arrived safely in Alaska, spent the night at the lower camp at Lake Aleknagik and then took a two hour, spectacular, sometimes freeze-your- nose-off cold boat ride to this camp at Lake Nerka.
Settled in nicely – I sleep in the “girls room” of the bunk house. So far there are no other girls in it, but I hear someone else is arriving today. Pete is in the “boys room”. He’s from Wisconsin and he’s doing a really interesting experiment involving plants growing in the area and the salmon.
Am figuring out the niceties of camp life: sleep in ‘til 8:30, big breakfast, work, big lunch, work, big dinner, work or leisure time or bed. I have to say, they really eat well here. I’m going to have to be careful not to waddle home. Luckily:
I got to go “out in the field” for the first time yesterday! It was very exciting! I went with Laura (Luna’s mom) and Pete. We went first to “Clover” which is a wetland meadow or peat bog kind of place. (I believe that’s called muskeg) It’s about a 15-20 minute climb up behind the camp. All along the way Laura and Pete would call, “Hey, Bear!” really loud to let the bear and moose know we were there. I let them do that. I’m not ready to try my hey-bear voice yet. (I’ve found that loud obnoxious singing is my preferred hey-bear voice) Anyway – we checked tree swallow boxes for nests – I think there were about 12 boxes at this site? One box had 7 eggs in it and was made with moss and fox fur! Most of the other nests were pine needles or grass and a few white feathers. I was primarily a note taker and found it to all be a fascinating process. I also was very glad of the chest waders when I stepped in the wrong spot and suddenly sank (one leg only) up to my hip. I was really stuck and would not have been able to get out b/c the ground is so boggy. Thank goodness for Pete’s helpful hand. The whole time there I was singing the Lion Hunt, Bear Hunt and Looking for Dracula songs b/c there was TALL grass and a MUDDY bog. I was cracking myself up (quietly). It was a lot of fun.
After Clover we went back to camp, put our life jackets on and headed up the Little Togiak River, which is really close to camp. We parked the boat a ways up there and mucked around doing the same thing – checking nest boxes. Also clearing trails a bit and I believe Pete was collecting data for his project. It was all very fun.
Coming back from the river our boat died (something about a connector on a gas line). We tried to fix it but to no avail. So we started rowing to shore – which was still a way off. Luckily Daniel (Luna’s dad) and Luna had heard the boat die from camp and came to rescue us. We held on to the side of their boat while they motored back to shore. It was all very fun, actually.
I discovered it requires different kinds of muscles to walk in marshy muck. I’m a little sore today. Luckily today is a little more quiet as half the camp is gone to pick up supplies from the barge and it is pouring down rain.
I’ve seen two moose – one with two calves (I guess technically that makes it four moosen) on an island in the middle of a river on the way here and the other on the shore across the bay from us while we were eating dinner on the beach last night! I won the bet about when we would see the first moose (from camp) but Pete was the one who saw it first.
Also during dinner last night I saw my first bald eagle up here.
I see sunshine! I’m going to go check the soup on the stove and maybe hop in a canoe! I love you all and hope you are all doing well!



Sunday, June 08, 2008 10:25 p.m. Nerka Field Camp, Alaska

Well – the internet is still not working, but we’re hoping maybe tomorrow? In the meantime, I’m hoping to maybe call home sometime in the next few days, if the weather is nice enough. (Evidently radio phones don’t work very well when it’s cloudy.)

I have to say, however – it is beautiful here! And very cold at the moment. The generator is on, allowing me to charge my computer and type a bit. But the bunkhouse is very chilly. I was noticing today that the roof is chinked with bits of moss and wood chips. It is a log cabin built from a kit thirty-some years ago – no insulation. But I’m grateful for it. Much better than a tent! It sounds like the generator just went off. Bummer. At least I got in a shower while there was hot water to be had. Here is a brief update on the last couple days:

Luna and I accompanied her dad and Pete on a water sampling expedition to the middle of Lake Nerka yesterday. What a joy! It was sunny and relatively warm. The water reflected perfectly the snowy mountain peaks that surround us on all sides. (Guess who packed everything for Luna but forgot a camera). We were able to help with the sampling of water at different depths (we only sampled down to 50 m.) and learned about all kinds of fancy scientific devices. ‘Twas a lot of fun!
There are a couple more people in camp – Allie (short for Allison) and Anne. They are both from the University of Washington and working here this summer. They’ll be going back and forth between here and the camp at Lake Aleknagik. It is fun to have them here for now. Last night they, Peter and I took one of the Lund boats (Pete drove) to the “Pike Ponds” (near Pit Creek) so Pete could do some fishing. (It was fun just for the sake of getting out of camp.) Pete caught a Pike and two Char. He let the char go. We had pike tacos for dinner tonight. So yummy!
No bears yet. *ah darn*
No moose either (in camp). *sigh* There’s a lot of moose poop, though. Funny looking stuff.
A word or two about the outhouse: It’s your average sixty year old outhouse. The door doesn’t close all the way and there’s no latch. One must rely on a flip-able slab of wood hanging from a nail further down the path which reads, in faded paint, “free” on one side and “taken” on the other. There is a handle on the inside of the door, so a person with really long arms could hold it shut while taking care of business – but I don’t have elastic arms, which is really sad on windy days. It is a funny thing, though – this is the first outhouse I’ve used that doesn’t smell bad! No flies! Surprisingly few mosquitoes, even! I investigated the other day to figure out why (you know you would, too!) It’s just a normal hole in the ground full of poo and yuck. The only difference is it is surrounded by several inches of ice! I guess the spring thaw hasn’t arrived at the outhouse yet! How nice! Any bets on when it will? I’m hoping for August 3rd. One last note: I’ll bet you’ve always thought the moon and star on the outhouse were decorative ventilation – right? Nope. They’re to make sure the coast is bear free before venturing out of privy safety.
I don’t believe it gets truly dark here. I went to the outhouse at 2:30 last night and it wasn’t dark. I’m very sad. No Alaska stars for me. But on the other hand – it’s kinda really cool.



Wednesday, June 18, 2008 5:30 p.m. Aleknagik Station, Alaska


Well, we are still without internet at Nerka and what’s more – even the radio phone is out. So I apologize for that lack of communication to everyone! You’ve all been on my mind and I hope you know how much I love you and think of you every day. We all bundled up today and endured the boat ride to Aleknagik for the sake of making contact with the outside world. But, alas, even here the internet connection is only 1.0 Mbps (sometimes 5.5 when really lucky) so it is taking awhile to get things done online. Here are a few of the recent happenings here:

Puking the Char: I’ve had the pleasure of getting to go on quite a few Char puking expeditions. Now I know you’re asking yourself, “What?” Well – one of the ways the scientists can tell if/how many baby salmon are in the water is to catch their predators (mainly Char), put the char in a bucket of water, sedate the fish a smidge, then force water down its throat to make the contents of its stomach dump into a pan. Then we count everything that was in the stomach (e.g. 75 snails, 15 smolts, 23 mosquito larvae, etc.). We let the fish go when the sedation has worn off. It is a neat process and actually a bit of fun. We go out usually in the evening (between nine and midnight). It is so beautiful at that time. The other night there was a moose swimming in the water near an island not far from where the boat was anchored.

Hidden Lake: Last Friday we all (Luna and her parents, Peter, Anne, Allie and I) hiked into Hidden Lake for a bit science stuff, picnic lunch and just to enjoy the area. It was so beautiful. We found very fresh bear poo there and some excellent bear prints in the mud near a creek on the way in. (Of course I took pictures! I don’t know if I can get them to load, though.) Luna and Allie and I picnicked on the shore of Hidden Lake while Daniel and Peter went out in a little row boat they keep there. Anne and Laura checked bird boxes. A funny thing about the boat: They keep it chained to a tree so no body will take off with it. They keep the key to the lock nailed to another tree nearby. (why not? who would think to look there?) Well when we got there, they realized that the tree with the key on it had been knocked down during a winter storm. Hee-hee. Key Hunt! It was found and all is well. It has a new safe spot. It was funny, though. Luna and I held down the fort on the shore while the crew filtered in and out doing different tasks. Anne joined us for a while and we made silly faces out of the lichen from the spruce trees.

On the way back we stopped at a place called Fly Over to check bird boxes. It was a big swampy area but VERY beautiful, also. We found a moose carcass here. Anne put moose hair up her nose to look like a mustache. A kindred spirit.

When not “out in the field” there is a lot going on in camp. Sometimes I am with Luna (we have a lot of fun) and sometimes I help with other projects in camp. Saturday Pete and I mucked out an old log cabin (from the 40’s – first building here) that was being used for storage and got it all organized. There are little gardens being planted, rocks being hauled from creeks for drainage ditches, buildings getting pressure washed (prepped for painting), a new wood stove put in at the new cabin (can’t wait until it is functional!), a new cooking stove in the main cabin (woo-hoo!), cutting the brush back from around camp so we can see the big animals before they see us . . . . . and also to keep down the ‘squiters. It’s been busy. Cold, too. 30-40’s at night and in the mornings. 50’s during the day. Often in the evening, though, the clouds clear and the sun shines so warm and lovely. The nice thing about this late spring is the mosquitoes are just barely starting to “wake up”. So it has been nice to have a couple of mostly bug free weeks before they really bombard us.

Hopefully the internet will be up and running soon at Nerka and I’ll be able to keep more regular contact with everyone. Take care, be safe and know you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Lake Nerka

Many of you have asked about where I am going to be this summer. Here is a picture of the field camp on the shore of Lake Nerka in the Wood Tikchik State Park - North of Dillingham, Alaska. That is Church Mountain you see in the background (so I've heard - I haven't actually seen it yet.) The cabin in the foreground is one like the cabins I'll be staying in. (I hear there are two of them). The one on the left is where the family will be staying (who I will be nanny for). There are a few other buildings there also (lodge, shed, outhouse, etc.). So there you go - a picture to put with the idea of it all. I'm very excited and looking forward to getting all packed this weekend. I have to get my classroom all packed up and say goodbye to my kids for the summer first, though, before I can concentrate on Alaska. Thank you to everyone for all the help, good wishes, and everything else! Looking forward to a great summer for everyone in all the places we are. (I wish I could be everywhere!)

Nothin' to speak of . . . . .yet

Hey - this is just to test out the whole "blog" thing. Hopefully this is where I'll be able to post pictures and stuff this summer. Let me know if it worked for you.